I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



411 



"The progress; it is diversity^ the estab- 

 lishment of differences, the living to forms 

 and functions their special characters. 



" The end ; it is a new unit, the organic 

 or liarmonic unit, if you please ; for all the 

 individual organs are not fortuitously assem- 

 bled, but have each of them their plan and 

 functions marked out. The totality of these 

 evolutions is what is ordinarily called devel- 

 ojwient. 



The progress, we say, is d iversifi cation ; 

 it is the variety of organs and of functions. 

 What, then, is" the condition of a greater 

 amount of life, of a richer life, of a comple- 

 ter growth for the animal ? Is it not the 

 imultiplicity and the variety of the special 

 organs, which are so many different means 

 whereby the individual may place himself in 

 relation with the external world, may receive 

 the most varied impressions from it ; and, so 

 to speak, may taste it in all its forms, and 

 may act upon it in turn ? What an im- 

 mense distance between the life of the po- 

 lype, which is only a digestive tube, and 

 that of the superior animals; above all, of 

 man, endowed with so many exquisite senses, 

 for whom the world of nature, as well as the 

 world of ideas, is open on all sides, awaking 

 and drawing; forth in a thousand various 

 ways, all the living forces wherewith God 

 has endowed him ! 



" And what we here say of organic indi- 

 viduals — is it not true of societies of indi- 

 viduals, and particularly of human societies? 

 Is it evident that the same law of develop- 

 ment is applicable to them ? Here, again, 

 homogeneousness, uniformity, is the elemen- 

 tary state, — the savage state. Diversity, va- 

 riety of elements, which call for and multi- 

 ply exchanges ; and almost infinite speciali- 

 zation of the functions corresponding to the 

 various talents bestowed on every man by 

 Providence, and only called into action and 

 brought to light by the thousand wants of a 

 society as complicated as ours, — these have, 

 in all times, been the sign cf a social state 

 arrived at a high degree of improvement. 



" Could we, indeed, conceive the possibil- 

 ity of this multitude of industrial talents that 

 have their birth in the wants of luxury, and 

 are revealed by the thousand elegant no- 

 things displayed in our drawing-rooms, 

 among the Indians of the Rocky Morntains, 

 sheltered by the few branches which form 

 their wretched huts ? The commercial life, 

 which creates the prosperity of the foremost 

 nations of the globe — is it possible among a 



people whose ambition is limited to hunting 

 in the neighbouring wild the animal that is 

 to furnish food for the day ? Could we hope 

 to see the wonders of architecture unfolded 

 among a people who have no public edifices 

 but the overhanging foliage of their forests ? 

 Had Raphael been born among them, would 

 he ever have given his admirable master- 

 pieces to the world? And the precious 

 treasures of intelligence and of lofty thoughts 

 contained in our libraries, — where would 

 they be, if human societies had preserved 

 the simplicity a false philosophy has called 

 the simplicity of nature, but in reality the 

 most opposed to the true nature of man ? 



No, it is the exchange of products by the 

 commerce of the world, that makes the ma- 

 terial life and prosperity of the nations. It 

 is the exchange of thoughts, by the pen and 

 by speech, that sets in motion the progress 

 of intelligence. It is the interchange of the 

 sentiments and affections, that makes the 

 moral life and secures the happiness of man. 



" Thus, all life is mutual, — is exchange. 

 In individuals, as well as in societies, that 

 which excites life, that which is the condi- 

 tion of life, is difference. The progress of 

 development is diversity ; the end is the har- 

 monious unity allowing all differences, all in- 

 dividuals to exist, but coordinating and sub- 

 jecting them to a superior aim. 



"Every being, every individual, necessa- 

 rily forms a part of a greater organism than 

 itself, out of which we can not conceive its 

 existence, and in which it has a special part 

 to act. By performing these functions, it 

 rises to the highest degree of perfection its 

 own nature is capable of attaining. Unhap- 

 py he who isolates himself, and refuses to 

 enter into those relations of intercourse with 

 others -which assure to him superior life. 

 He deprives himself voluntarily of the nu- 

 tritive sap intended to give him vigor, and, 

 like a branch torn from the vine, dries up 

 and perishes in his egoism. 



"All is order, all is harmony in the uni- 

 verse, because the whole universe is a thought 

 of God ; and it appears as a combination of 

 organisms, each of which is only an integral 

 part of one still more sublime. God alone 

 contains them all, without making a part of 

 any. 



Pay all necessary regard to filial and fra 

 ternal duties, so that you may give due impor 

 tance to the various relations of life." 



